JIM Brathwaite, first black chairman of a regional development agency, is to take over from Kent-based Allan Willett at the organisation helping to regenerate the county.

Mr Brathwaite, 49, will be paid £47,800 for two days a week at the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). He replaces Mr Willett, the Lord Lieutenant of Kent, on December 14.

Mr Willett, who lives in Chilham, near Canterbury, is a successful businessman and founder of Willett International, a multi-million pound coding enterprise.

He agreed to stay on an extra year at SEEDA, an organisation that encourages economic development and regeneration across the county and beyond. It has a regional office in The Observatory, Chatham Maritime.

It is in charge of Chatham Maritime and involved in projects across Kent Thames-side and East Kent, including the former Kent Coalfields.

Kent business people are understood to have applied for the job, but few SEEDA-watchers expected the county to get the chairmanship twice in a row. Mr Brathwaite is based in Sussex.

Mr Brathwaite founded XL Entertainment, a media rights company based in Chichester. In 1996, he became Britain's first black CEO of a publicly quoted company when he floated Epic Interactive Media plc, now Epic Group plc.

Patricia Hewitt, Trade and Industry Secretary, said: "This new appointment brings a wealth of business and civic experience to the challenge of promoting the economic development of the region."

She said: "I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing chair for his hard work and leadership of the RDA in its crucial early years."

Mr Brathwaite is a member of the board of Sussex Enterprise, the founding chairman of Business Link Sussex and a member of the Council of the University of Sussex. He is also a member of the National Small Business Council, treasurer of the Foreign Office's Caribbean Advisory Group and a member of the Government's Export Advisory Committee for the Americas.

He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000 for services to the Sussex economy. He joined the SEEDA board in December 2001.

In the Government's recent spending review, the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave RDAs an additional £82 million in 2004-05 and £204m in 2005-06. SEEDA was given new responsibilities for transport, tourism, planning and housing.